There are some common football injuries that come with a relatively concrete timetable and there are others that are far more nebulous.
Such is the case with Redskins first-round pick Josh Doctson, the team's wide receiver of the future who has yet to come off the Physically Unable to Perform list. Doctson is still suffering from an Achilles' tendon injury on his right foot.
In what seems to be a combination of caution and following protocol, he has not done much more than the standard off-to-the-side warmup drills. He won't play this week against the Jets and may not debut in the preseason at all.
"I don't have any expectations for him whatsoever," head coach Jay Gruden said, via The Washington Post. "I'm just trying to listen to what the trainers are telling me and how he's feeling. I don't know. We'll just have to wait and see. He's going to progress slowly, and we'll take our time with him. When he feels right and the time is right, we'll push him hard and let him practice."
Washington has this kind of luxury, seeing as Doctson is fourth on the depth chart anyway. DeSean Jackson, Pierre Garçon and Jamison Crowder were going to be the starting three well before one of the best receivers in the draft slipped into GM Scot McCloughan's lap. Barring another injury, the team can afford to wait.
More than that, Doctson's rehab represents how far the league has come in terms of treating and understanding potentially nagging injuries like this one. Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr. missed nearly his entire rookie camp and the first four games of the 2014 regular season before exploding onto the scene with a fully recovered hamstring. This is becoming the norm with almost all highly drafted players.
The truth is that we might not have seen much of Doctson over the first quarter of the regular season even if he was fully healthy. Washington's passing attack can absorb new weapons on the fly, but doesn't seem to need them right away.
